ESM boys, girls track sides sweep CBA

As a result of its move to the OHSL Freedom division, the Christian Brothers Academy track and field teams had to face Jamesville-DeWitt and East Syracuse-Minoa in consecutive weeks.

The Spartans and Brothers faced each other last Wednesday as part of a three-way meet with Fulton, and ESM swept past CBA 81-57 as it also beat the Red Raiders 85-54. CBA did enough for its own 76-59 victory over Fulton to salvage a split.

Corey Vollmer gave ESM a highlight when he cleared 11 feet 6 inches to win the pole vault, with Tom Grayer taking the long jump as he went 19’3”.

Joe Coogan, victorious in the 800-meter run in 2:05.9, also teamed with Jake Barker, Jesse Perrone and Nick Schug to win the 4×800 relay in 8:30.9. Later, in the 4×400, Coogan, Barker, DeShaun Gorman and Anthony Smith nabbed first place in 3:46.6.

ESM also used a lot of second and third-place finishes to make up for CBA’s individual titles, including the sprint races, where Deshawn Salter went 11.2 seconds in the 100-meter dash, Dametrius Brown went 24.3 seconds in the 200-meter dash and Matt Stedman took the 400-meter dash in 53.2 seconds.

Moving to the girls meet, ESM also prevailed over CBA, 94-45, though the Spartans lost a 77-64 decision to Fulton as the Brothers fell to the Red Raiders 75-57.

Claiming all three distance running events, ESM had Juliette Miller take the 800 (2:35.5), Natalie Marra prevail in the 1,500 (5:03.8) and Gabby Pallotta win the 3,000 (11:03.4). Marra, Miller, Grace Maring and Maria Miner were first in the 4×800 relay in 11:19 flat.

Elsewhere for the Spartans, Venice Magunga was victorious in the 100 sprint in 13.8 seconds, while Nina Zesky cleared 5’2” in the high jump.

CBA’s Julie McInvale earned a victory in the discus with a throw of 72’8”, with Kiana Ferguson taking the 200-meter dash in 28.3 seconds and Anna Schug winning the 400 sprint in 1:03.1. They both were on the Brothers’ winning 4×100 relay side that finished in 52.5 seconds.

Jamesville-DeWitt, who had already swept CBA the week before, now did the same to Mexico, prevailing 97-35 on the boys side and 112-29 on the girls side.

Taumeras Howard, running in the 100, finished in 11.7 seconds, going on to take the 200 sprint in 24.1 seconds. Nate Sturgeon prevailed in the 400 hurdles (1:03.1) and went 18’8” to win the long jump as Dylan Volk recorded a top triple jump of 39’1”.

The Red Rams swept all the field events as Joe Murphy cleared 5’6” in the high jump, Brian Roth tossed the shot ptu 41’4 ½” and Davis Elmore had a top discus throw of 128’2”.

Zach Liebmann was first in the 400 sprint in 54.1 seconds, also helping Howard, Volk and Sturgeon as J-D won the 4×100 relay in 44.5 seconds. This followed a 4×800 where the Rams, who saw Mexico star James Gowans sweep the 800, 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs, got Will Hohreiter, Andrew Scibilia, Nick Harron and Samuel Dye to win in 8:51.9.

Sierra Vasiliou won three field events for the Rams, throwing the shot put 33’1” and clearing 4’8” in the high jump while also going 14’4” in the long jump. Tangela Hightower threw the discus 90’2” to prevail there.

On the oval, Ally Fox set the tone, prevailing in the 100 (12.7 seconds) and 200 (27.1 seconds) sprints. Rachel Fairbanks showed her versatility by claiming the 400 sprint in 1:01.6 and the much longer 3,000-meter event in 11:45.3.

J-D also won two of the three relay events. Wengert, Fairbanks, Samantha Clemons and Hannah Stefl would cover the 4×800 10:34.5, while Danforth, Fox, Vasiliou and Patrece Martin worked together and won the 4×100 in 51.6 seconds.